Do you have call centres in the UK? Oh yes..

**AtW** · 26 August 2006, 20:55

I don't even bother checking motor insurance rates with well known well marketed names like Churchill or Norwich - the kind of rip off rates they have make it completely irrelevant if their call center support is manned by the Royal Household with perfect Queen English.

**mcquiggd** · 26 August 2006, 21:08

Well that's a typical attitude from an economic migrant, Alexei!!

The rest of us all celebrate the Queen's birthday (gawd bless ya m'am), and would gladly sell our house and all it's contents to pay for another garden party at the Palace.

Shame on you, Alexei! You would not pass John Reid's citizenship test

**AtW** · 26 August 2006, 21:39

Well, I passed my test in March.

I don't mind paying premium for better service - but that's 10-20%, maybe 30% on a relatively small amount, but given how expensive insurance rates can be they can't expect to get high premium for just call centers - heck I did not call my insurance company during whole year, at least I am paying £550 for the priviledge with unknown company, rather than over £1000 for one of those big names advertised on TV: if you see ads on TV then products will have to be more expensive simply because of high cost of marketing.

**mcquiggd** · 26 August 2006, 21:50

Alexei, in certain respects I agree with you - I worked for Norwich Union and have friends there... much of the call centre work is outsourced to india, and development to wipro. They spent £350 million on a failed project called Wealth Management while I was there.

Prices for their products have of course, stayed the same, or increased.

Personally I do *try* to make decisions that are based on whether or not a company is really employing UK people or not - the difficulty is in finding out the information. For example, I currently bank with the CoOperative, and my understanding is they have not outsourced.

**AtW** · 26 August 2006, 21:57

Yes I too would prefer money to stay within the UK - this way they will circulate more and more taxes to be paid (thus making it a bit less likely that more taxes will be needed), however in some cases businesses are grossly ineffective and the fact that they employ UK citizens is not enough in my view - those businesses normally waste money on stupid projects like you mentioned or big TV ads, something I don't want to subsidise.

What I find really ridiculous about car insurance is this - why the F\/CK price range for the same input parameters of me vary from £550 to over £2000? I mean actuaries who calculate risks will certainly have different formulaes, but not 4 bloody times! If it was £10 or £40, then fair enough, but £1500 quid difference per year on a small hatchback for pretty much doing nothing (I am low risk driver IMO), is taking the piss.

**mcquiggd** · 26 August 2006, 22:13

Originally posted by AtW

those businesses normally waste money on stupid projects like you mentioned or big TV ads, something I don't want to subsidise.

I partially agree... to my knowledge, the CoOperative bank has not advertised on TV, and they have a fairly strict 'ethical investment policy' - e.g. your money won't be used to finance some foreign war.

I am not against all marketing, but these days, talking to friends, and internet 'word of mouth' and research, has far more impact on me than TV advertising. I cannot think of anything I have bought directly due to advertising... and I do understand it is intended to be a subconcious influence. If anything, I tend to react against that.

**Troll** · 26 August 2006, 23:04

Originally posted by mcquiggd

much of the call centre work is outsourced to india, and development to wipro.

I currently bank with the CoOperative, and my understanding is they have not outsourced.

Even more fun when you have tele conferences with Bangalore & Pune and you can't understand a word they say!!

**VectraMan** · 26 August 2006, 23:34

I remember calling Sky, in India of course, who then had to transfer me to their Scotish call centre, who were even more incomprehensible than the Indian call centre.

But I resent having to call anyone in this day and age. I needed a duplicate car insurance certificate out of AA insurance recently, but their online "request a duplicate insurance document service" was broken for weeks on end so I ended up spending hours in a telephone queue instead.

**mcquiggd** · 26 August 2006, 23:35

It's a bit like calling the outsourced directory enquiries numbers...

"I want to know the number for aaaaa in Wooton Basset"

Silence for a few seconds...

"Please repeat"

Be prepared for a hefty phone bill.

Do you have call centres in the UK? Oh yes..